Prospect Tim Elliott outperformed: Seattle Mariners Instructional League

The Seattle Mariners Tim Elliott, the 26th ranked prospect outperformed in the Instructional League

Tim Elliott was one of the many Seattle Mariners prospects who had an opportunity to play in the Instructional League held in Arizona. Elliott was a fourth-round pick in 2019 and pitched in Everett during the 2019 minor league season. The 6’1″ pitcher attended the University of Georgia, the same school as the 2020 first-round pick Emerson Hancock. They were teammates at Georgia from 2018 to 2019.

Tim Elliott pitched pretty well in 2019 but has not had much gameplay since, so the seven weeks in Arizona were a great opportunity for him to face batters in a game setting. The 23-year-old right-hander pitched quite often for the team. He threw 10.2 innings this summer.

Putting the stats together was not easy due to the limited amount of sources that published the Mariners’ Instructional League Stats, so there is a high chance of discrepancy. But out of those 10.2 innings, Elliott allowed around eight hits and three walks. He struck out 16 batters which were the second-most on the team.

Elliott also threw around 155 pitches during his time in the league. I roughly approximated his fastball velocity was 92mph. To reiterate, the Mariners published limited statistics from the Instructional League so my average velocity could be slightly off.

This is a great sign for Elliott considering his minor league was wiped like many others. Tim Elliott was also able to do this without an elite fastball, sort of reminiscent of the Mariners ace Marco Gonzales.

Elliott has also proven that he has an excellent work ethic by gaining lots of muscle in between college and professional baseball. Elliott was a skinny pitcher out of college, weighing 170lbs. When he joined the Seattle Mariners, he was up to 200 lbs. Scouts knew he had a consistent low 90s fastball and mixed his changeup in well, and I expect him to get better and better. According to MLB.com, Elliott is projected for a 2022 debut.

He still has a lot of time to develop into a middle of rotation starting pitcher, or even a front end starting pitcher. Elliott will not blow batters away with his fastball and will need to continue pounding the strike zone. Elliott could become like a right-handed Marco Gonzales. He still has a long way to the big leagues, but his name could become more popular over the years. Tim Elliott could debut with the Mariners pitchers alongside his former college teammate Emerson Hancock in a few years.